Niko Kovac insisted at Borussia Dortmund to show their quality and “play to our limits” to beat Juventus in their opening champion competition.
Dortmund, who were defeated finalists in 2023-24, won the quarterfinals of the Champions League last season before being eliminated by Barcelona.
Kovac has inspired an impressive turning point since he took over in January, and Dortmund has made an unbeaten start of the Bundesliga.
Dortmund does not have the best road record against Italian parties in the Champions League and loses five of their last six of such competitions (W1), including a 2-1 defeat against Bologna previous term.
But Kovac is convinced that his side can come from Turin on Tuesday with a positive result.
“We are playing away. That is definitely an advantage for Juve,” Kovac told a press conference.
“We played a present season match against Juventus in Dortmund, and you could see the quality that this team has.
“We have to play to our limits; we have to give 100%. We want to show that we have the quality to get a result here.”
Ciao. @JuventusFC pic.twitter.com/ysv5rhjkdx
– Borussia Dortmund (@blackyellow) September 15, 2025
Despite their bad record in Italy, Dortmund is known for their strong starts in the Champions League. They have won their opening match in three of their last four campaigns in the competition, so that this was only done against Paris Saint-Germain in 2023-24 (2-0 defeat).
And they made sure that they could not be pronounced last season.
Without new major injury problems, Dortmund wants to wear their competition form to Europe, something that Kovac believes that they are well equipped to do.
“We have a very good team. If everyone is available, we are very balanced, both in terms of width and depth,” he added.
“For me it’s about competition. The profiles are different. There must be the right balance between physicality, creativity and running performance. If we can get a good mix of it, we are in a good position.”
And Marcel Sabitzer insisted that Dortmund had the belief in their capacities, so that their sentences set high from the start.
“Fundamentally you always go to a tournament to win it,” said Sabitzer. “Otherwise it makes no sense to compete.”
‘[It will be] A special occasion, the largest possible stage for a club level player. I am very happy that I have been able to participate so often and that I will continue to do so. “
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